Research Question: What strategies and approaches are effective in motivating organizational members?
Introduction
Human capital represents one of the most critical assets in any organization, whose full value may however, only be realized when the work environment, motivation, and other factors are in proper balance. Getting organizational members to put in their best efforts, even in the most difficult circumstances, remains the most important and challenging tasks for managers. Motivation (intrinsic motivation) describes the factors/reasons that drive behavior, by energizing and sustaining activities through the spontaneous satisfaction that is inherent in effective actions. It derives from within the organizational member’s goals, ambitions, thoughts, expectations, and beliefs, which are bound to be different for every person. Employers try multiple different ways (e.g. high compensation, performance appraisal and reward systems, and sales quotas) to ensure organizational members are well motivated, with varying levels of success. Some research results point to possibility that many generic motivation strategies are inappropriate because they tend to foster extrinsic motivation. This paper reviews existent theoretical and empirical research evidence on the nature and effectiveness of different approaches/strategies used to motivate organizational members.
Literature review
Cross-disciplinary research in fields such as biology, evolutionary psychology and neurology has led to immense knowledge on the nature of motivation. According to Nohria, Groysberg, & Lee (2008), human beings are driven by four basic needs wrought by evolutionary forces. These forces include the need to acquire i.e. gain access to scarce economic and psychological goods; bond by forming connections with groups and individuals; comprehend through the satisfaction of the curiosity to master the world around them; and defend themselves against external forces. Effectively, to motivate organizational members, managers need to implement strategies that bolster the for motivational drivers. Two large studies to examine the nature of strategies that organizations may use to satisfy the four motivation drivers showed that a focus on the four has markedly better results compared to traditional motivation strategies. The studies measured satisfaction, commitment, intention to quit and engagement and established that the ability of many organizations to achieve high employee motivation depended on how well the four motivation drivers were addressed. The levers that organizations may use to achieve high motivation include reward systems, healthy organizational cultures, acceptable job designs, resource allocation processes, and healthy management.
The model presented by Nohria, Groysberg, & Lee (2008) shares a number of elements with traditional motivation theories. Maslow’s motivation asserts that human beings have motivation systems that are unrelated to the traditional unconscious desires and rewards. Humans have needs that they seek to satisfy giving priority to the most basic needs first. Other than the biological/physiological needs, the need for safety, love and belongingness, esteem (status, dominance, achievement and self-respect, etc.) and lastly, self-actualization meeds (e.g. personal growth and self-fulfillment). According to Maslow, there are four dimensions of motivation in meeting the hierarchy of needs i.e. relevance, satisfaction, interest, expectancy, and relevance. These dimensions must characterize all the strategies that are used to motivate employees (Kaur, 2013; Aamodt, 2009). On the other hand, Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory argues that there exist specific factors in a workplace that can cause job satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Human beings’ most basic needs are two( i.e. the need to seek pleasure and avoid pain) which they seek to satisfy at work. Firstly, they are driven to meet the needs that free them from pain such as poor housing and hunger by looking for good compensation, job security, and good management, but once these are satisfied, organizational members want to satisfy their pleasure-seeking needs. Effectively, Herzberg’s hygiene factors include employee empowerment, challenging job design, job enrichment, inclusion of healthy variety to avoid boredom, and setting reasonable performance expectations/goals (The Vocational Coach; Miner, 2005).
Other theories are founded on different principles but speak to the same issues as afore discussed theories. The existential theory of motivation emphasizes personal responsibility for living the life desired. Most of Nohria, Groysberg, & Lee (2008) and Maslow’s motivation drivers are included in the assertion of existential anxiety to the awareness of life’s finitude and the fact that positive mental health flows from the meanings people assign to their life. However, this theory is criticized for its excessive optimism and self-centeredness that it encourages people (Nohria, Groysberg, & Lee, 2008; Miner, 2005; The Vocational Coach).
On the other hand, behaviorists theories of motivation that characterized traditional motivation strategies such as higher compensation and other performance reward system have also not lost their footing in modern management practice. Behaviorist theories have a foundation in animal experiments showing that stimuli can elicit specific responses from animals (and humans). Specific theories include Pavlov’s classical conditioning theory, Thorndike's association theory, Watson’s emotional reactions theory and Skinner’s operant conditioning theory. While these theories are not exactly identical they are founded the premise that animals/humans react predictably to stimuli, and can be conditioned to react in a certain manner, which therefore means that organizations may use certain stimuli to elicit desired responses, including motivation. However, according to Miner (2005) are too animalist i.e. they ignore the complex human stimuli processing and the influence of factors such as culture on such decisions and their respective motivations.
Summary
Motivation remains an important factor for any organization seeking to attain lasting competitive advantages. Research into motivation, strategies and approaches is immensely enriching. It is evident that intrinsic motivation is superior and sustainable to extrinsic motivation, and this can be attained by addressing human’s basic and other needs. Basic needs are physiological (e.g. food), while secondary and higher needs as determined by evolutionary, cultural and environmental factors. Nohria, Groysberg, & Lee (2008) asserts that humans are driven by the needs to acquire, bond, comprehend and defend, while Maslow’s motivation theory lays emphasis on the importance of progressively addressing the organizational member’s needs using strategies that are relevant, satisfying, meet expectations and the member’s interests. Behavioral theories, on the other hand, can be effective in bolstering extrinsic motivation, but not the all important intrinsic motivation.
Conclusions
There are no specific strategies that can encourage motivation because these are bound to vary from one firm, culture, etc., to the next, but a range of strategies characterize effective strategies. Perhaps the most important finding is that traditional organizational motivation strategies often focus on extrinsic motivation, which is ineffective in bringing up the genuine and sustained improvement in productivity/performance. For instance, setting monthly sales targets and rewards will motivate the sales force to achieve them, but once incentives are eliminated, productivity will also be lost. Effectively, behavioral theories of motivation are inadequate. Intrinsic motivation is critical, and to achieve it, organizations must tend to the underlying factors that drive such motivation, as anticipated by motivation theories that include Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Herzberg’s motivation-hygiene theory and the grand new approach discussed by Nohria, Groysberg, & Lee (2008).
References
Aamodt, M. G. (2009). Industrial/Organizational Psychology: An Applied Approach. New York: Cengage Learning. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=OzV-BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT635&lpg=PT635&dq=Aamodt,+M.+G.+%282009%29.+Industrial/Organizational+Psychology:+An+Applied+Approach&source=bl&ots=EscDh2TxU_&sig=ce93f0gqliO-DtGK-vSJ0m5JbgI&hl=en&sa=X&ei=J4OTVdjJM4a2UeqRscAG&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=Aamodt%2C%20M.%20G.%20%282009%29.%20Industrial%2FOrganizational%20Psychology%3A%20An%20Applied%20Approach&f=false
Kaur, A. (2013). Maslow’s Need Hierarchy Theory: Applications and Criticisms. Global Journal of Management and Business Studies Volume 3, Number 10, 1061-64. Retrieved from http://www.ripublication.com/gjmbs_spl/gjmbsv3n10_03.pdf
Korzynski, P. (2013). EMPLOYEE MOTIVATION IN NEW WORKING ENVIRONMENT. International Journal Of Academic Research, 5(5), 184-188. doi:10.7813/2075-4124.2013/5-5/B.28. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=65c58feb-3bd1-4fea-829c-69c0a9cc54ac%40sessionmgr4004&crlhashurl=login.aspx%253fdirect%253dtrue%2526profile%253dehost%2526scope%253dsite%2526authtype%253dcrawler%2526jrnl%253d20754124%2526AN%253d92950322&hid=4112&vid=0
Miner, J. B. (2005). Organizational Behavior: Essential theories of motivation and leadership. London: M.E. Sharpe. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.ke/books?id=kUO5NWwaySYC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Nohria, N., Groysberg, B., & Lee, L.-E. (2008). Employee Motivation: A Powerful New Model. Harvard Business Review Aug, https://hbr.org/2008/07/employee-motivation-a-powerful-new-model.
The Vocational Coach. (n.d.). How to have a motivated workforce- A new Approach. The Vocational Coach.
